Excavator accident in quarry leaves employee with serious spine injury

David was involved in a particularly nasty accident at the quarry where he had worked for over 30 years. He went to speak with a colleague when a Volvo 360 excavator swung its bucket over their heads. Due to the rotational speed of the arm a piece of wet clay was dislodged from the bucket and hit David at force striking him on the back of his neck.

The next thing he knew he found himself on the floor realising immediately he was paralysed. He drifted in and out of consciousness and was helicoptered to hospital.

The arm of the machine should not have been swung with the bucket open and not in the direction of people. Had the bucket been in the closed position and arm retracted the accident would not have happened.

David sustained a very complex injury to his cervical spine. A number of vertebrae were fractured and displaced, causing a very high spinal cord injury. He underwent various extensive operations to stabilise his neck and was fed with a percutaneous entro gastrostomy (PEG) tube for some time.

David's life is now substantially limited and he was not able to return to work.  Prior to the injury the David was a keen golfer and fly fisherman; this also has been impossible since the accident due to the loss of fine motor control and limitation of the use of his arms.

Fieldfisher took over the case very close to limitation, his previous solicitors had done very little. We obtained reports from a pain consultant, psychiatrist and neurosurgeon very quickly and issued proceedings. We quashed any arguments about failure to indemnify which the insurers were running and secured a substantial sum in damages for David.

David went on to say:

"Fieldfisher took over my case from a firm of High Street solicitors. They were very helpful and proactive. They were immediately concerned about my medical condition and set up various medical appointments to fully understand the extent of my injuries. The dispute against the insurance company was dealt with head-on and they turned around and resolved my case very quickly."

Contact us

For further information about how to claim for an accident at work and spinal injury claims, please call Jennifer Buchanan on 03304606774 or email jennifer.buchanan@fieldfisher.com.

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